Economic Development

The new issue of EconSouth, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, offers a good summary of economic development. The title is, "Southern States Ply the Art of the Deal." Go to www.frbatlanta.org and look for EconSouth in the Regional Spotlight box in the upper left corner. For a company to locate in one place as opposed to another, the article says, "The first factor that must be in place is a suitable location with the right access and infrastructure, economic development experts say, along with a good labor pool, low business costs, and a decent quality of life." Incentives such as industrial revenue bonds, while a widely accepted part of economic development, come at the margin "when other factors are the same." Whether incentive packages work economically or are just subsidies, the debate among economists is review with no conclusion beyond noting that "States try to lure jobs, using whatever means work best."

In defining economic development in the technical sense—attracting companies—the article emphasizes a point that is nearly always confused in economic development discussions in New Mexico. The distinction is that below a certain size community, "economic development" simply doesn't apply. For economic development and for Elida, Roy and Cuba, "There is no there, there," as Gertrude Stein said 71 years ago of Oakland, California.

The discussion should be about "developing the economy."  An attempt to grapple with the problem came in the background document for the recent New Mexico First town hall on "rural-urban economic development." New Mexico First accepted the Census Bureau definition that "urban" means a metropolitan statistical area, of which there are four in New Mexico, and everything else is rural. Well, there is rural and there is rural, as the document admitted, allowing that the challenges of Roy and Elida were different than for "less rural" communities such as Gallup. I haven't seen the recommendations from the town hall yet, but will comment when I do. 

Accepting the standard rural/urban distinction also overlooks some situations that are a function of New Mexico having large counties. Cuba, for example, though very rural (as NM First puts it), is part of metro Albuquerque and therefore outside the town hall's purview. So is Sunland Park, a small somewhat rural city that is part of metro Las Cruces.